Single Grave Culture

Late Neolithic cultures of Scandinavia, northern Germany, and the Low Countries, dated to c 2800-2400 BC. The burial rite was inhumation of a single corpse under or within a round barrow, and sometimes laid in a pit grave or a mortuary house. The burials include the stone battle-ax and corded ware beakers. The Single Grave culture has traditionally been regarded as intrusive in northern Europe because of the contrast with the collective burial in megalithic tombs practiced by the earlier Neolithic TRB people in the same area. It is possible that it developed out of the TRB culture and that the changes in the archaeological record at this time can be explained in terms of changing social systems - more complex social structures and the emergence of elites. The burial mounds are sometimes multi-phase with the sequence of under-grave, bottom-grave, and over-grave.

Name for the Late Neolithic cultures of Scandinavia, northern Germany and the Low Countries, part of a larger complex extending right across the north European plain and labelled Battleaxe or Corded ware cultures; the Globular Amphora culture may also be part of this group. Characterized by the practice of single burial under barrows, often accompanied by a battle axe, amber beads, and pottery vessels including beakers, this group has traditionally been regarded as intrusive in northern Europe because of the contrast with the collective burial in megalithic tombs practised by the earlier Neolithic TRB people in the same area. However, radiocarbon dating has shown that the Single Grave culture was not partially contemporary with the TRB culture, as previously believed, but succeeded it, with dates in the range 2500-2000 be (c3200-2500 bc). It now seems most likely that it developed out of the TRB culture and that the changes in the archaeological record at this time can be explained in terms of changing social systems (more complex social structures and the emergence of elites).